The roots and evolution of the culture-of-death. A taphonomic research of the European Paleolithic record

Project Information

DEATHREVOL

Grant agreement ID: 949330

DOI

10.3030/949330

EC signature date 14 August 2020

Start date 1 April 2021

End date 31 March 2027

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 494 486,00

EU contribution

€ 1 494 486,00

Coordinated by

CENTRO NACIONAL DE INVESTIGACION SOBRE LA EVOLUCION HUMANA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - DEATHREVOL (The roots and evolution of the culture-of-death. A taphonomic research of the European Paleolithic record)

Reporting period: 2024-04-01 to 2025-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Sometime during the Middle Pleistocene, the European continent witnessed the emergence of one of the most extraordinary human behaviours, the culture of death. The culture of death, refers to a funerary behaviour including some form of intentional treatment of the dead that implies a non-occasional or non-fortuitous practice and that, therefore, forms part of the cultural practices of human populations. This activity also implies a clear symbolic element and the cognitive complexity that this entails, although this symbolic behavior is not always expressed in artefacts that may be preserved in the fossil record. This leads to possible multiple expressions of the culture of death, varying in their complexity, among Pleistocene hominins. These diverse expressions seem to show geographic and temporal variations, even within the same hominin species, including temporal discontinuities in their manifestation, and can be traced in the fossil record.

The emergence of the culture of death is one of the most interesting and contentious areas of research in the field of human evolution, since it provides a window into understanding the origin and evolution of the human mind. When did our ancestors begin to acquire the funerary practices? How has this behavior manifested in time and space? Did this behavior appear independently in different human species?

DEATHREVOL project aims to investigate the origin of funerary behavior during the Middle Pleistocene and throughout the European Paleolithic archaeological record. The main working hypothesis is that funerary practices first emerged during the Middle Pleistocene among hominins predating the Neandertals. This project aims to fill the gap in taphonomic studies on Paleolithic humans and is the first extensive effort to investigate the European fossil record through a comprehensive multi-taphonomic study.

This project includes the following specific objectives: 1) Determine the emergence of the culture of death by searching for taphonomic signs of intentional treatment of the dead in European Middle Pleistocene fossils.; 2) Trace funerary behavior during the Late Pleistocene (Middle and Upper Paleolithic) using a multi-taphonomic approach. This objective focuses on the forensic-taphonomic analysis of Late Pleistocene hominins, including Neanderthals and Upper Paleolithic Homo sapiens. 3) The third objective is intended to create a database of multi-taphonomic observations in different contexts from archaeological assemblages from Pleistocene as well as the use of experimental taphonomic collections as a comparative framework. 4) To establish a detailed taphonomic protocol for the analysis of hominin fossil assemblages. 5) the objective 5 intends to propose systematic models on the funerary behaviors throughout the Paleolithic.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

To accomplish all of the planned tasks, the DEATHREVOL project has been divided into several work stages that are being developed simultaneously. The first work stage (WS1) is data collection. Specific actions in this phase include the mobility to study the fossil collections, acquisition of virtual and spatial data and chronometric dating on human bones. To date, we have analysed more than 35 collections of Palaeolithic human fossils corresponding to Objectives 1 and 2, which represents 70% of what was originally planned. We have also collected the data necessary for their analysis from these collections. On the other hand, we are analysing a considerable number of faunal remains from different archaeological contexts, including some of the sites included in Objectives 1 and 2, and those encompassed in Objective 3, such as anthropological occupation sites, carnivore contexts, natural cave situations, as well as experimental collections. In this sense, we are working diligently on Objective 3, which is a priority for the two doctoral theses in progress.

The second stage (WS2) consists of data analysis. This includes the statistical treatment of the data, the realisation of the virtual reconstructions of the fossils, the design and implementation of the Geographic Information Systems specific to each site, and the mathematical modelling and data analysis. We are currently in the process of completing this WS, having completed the data analysis of some of the analysed collections and are in the process of doing so for others.

The third Work stage (WS3) involves the integration of results. This project aims to create a European multi-proxy database of taphonomic data based on a large number of interrelated methods and analytical procedures. Therefore, we are developing an integrative approach aimed at proposing systemic models of ancient population behaviour during the Pleistocene in Europe. This involves planning, discussion and interpretation tasks in the main lines of research: virtual techniques, spatial analysis and machine learning.

After data analysis and integration, the final step is scientific and public dissemination. We regularly attend international conferences on archaeology and human evolution (29 so far). We have published some articles in scientific journals, although we are working on some papers that will be submitted for publication in the coming months. Finally, we regularly disseminate our results and investigations to the public, both nationally and internationally, through social networks, a website specifically designed for this project, lectures, conferences, school activities and participation in many outreach programmes.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The depositional origin of hominin fossils has traditionally been interpreted in the light of their contextual framework, especially those originating from funeral activities, but rarely from detailed taphonomic observations of the bones themselves. This includes the presence of a pit grave, an anatomical connection of skeletal elements, general completeness of bone, and the presence of objects in association with the body which may be interpreted as grave goods. The effect of this is to restrict the search for funerary behaviour to a poorly informed discussion on burials, which are exceptionally rare prior to the Late Pleistocene.

Nevertheless, taphonomic and forensic analyses on human remains form a readily available dataset for exploring wider funerary activity, and hence is essential for human evolutionary thanatology. DEATHREVOL represents the first large-scale project focused on a thorough multi-taphonomic study of the European fossil record. Thanks to new methodological approaches in the field of taphonomy and to exceptional fossil sites, we are succeeding in elucidating the fundamental facets of the behaviour of our ancestors.

In terms of expected outcomes by the end of the project, we will focus on accepting or refuting the main hypothesis of the project, which is whether or not funerary practices first emerged during the Middle Pleistocene among pre-Neanderthal hominins and represent early manifestations of a culture of death. Once we have achieved the planned objectives, we intend to disseminate the results in scientific publications. In particular, we plan to organise an international workshop at the end of the fourth year of the project to discuss the taphonomic features, methods and implications for human behaviour. Following this workshop, we plan to publish an edited open access volume that will represent the most up-to-date research on the emergence and evolution of the culture of death in the Palaeolithic.

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